Well…felt a little like an idiot today when Tom came over to check out the three outlets that stopped working yesterday and found that the problem was that I didn’t reset a breaker that was mislabled…as soon as Tom reset it, all of the outlets worked and I could move the fridge to the side of the the dining room where I wanted it since I did the outlet change right and got the ground fixed so the fridge would run…and, with that fix, I could move the microwave and coffee maker back to the counter where I had them until yesterday and put the table back that I had them sitting on…so, everything is how I wanted it again and I don’t have  a fridge sitting in the middle of the kitchen with the extension cord running down the hallway into my bedroom…so, thanks, Tom….

Well….I’m not sure which direction is worse with the time change last night…springing forward or falling back…I do know that I slept all the way til 6 on the clock which is really 5 and, once I realized that, I was quite a bit less happy…I guess we’ll see how I feel later in the day…I do know that I usually do conversions in my head for the first day of the change…so, it’s actually 8:12 as I write this and that is a little weird in itself…I did sleep okay last night with not a lot of tossing so I think I’ll focus on that…feel okay this morning and I think my thumb may be healing some…still hurts but I can use it without wincing so that is progress…I did get out on the bike yesterday and I am only 65 miles from getting to my goal…I do want to do that outside and not on the trainer but the weather is not cooperating….it looks like the trail along the river is going to be underwater in the spring since the river is only 3 feet below it with just the rain we’ve had lately…I wonder how much of the swamp floods with it? That may keep me on the trainer until the water recedes in the spring….not much to do today….after the work the past couple of days, I am going to just fool around and get some detail work done…did the bathroom yesterday and it looks good with all the excess paint and plaster removed….I may work on the vestibule when the Lions are on today since I am tired of looking at the ugly old paint….more later….

Well….after the problems I had with the water heater yesterday…today didn’t start out any better when I had two outlets stop working out of the blue…both in the kitchen but no breaker tripped or anything….so I had to move the microwave and coffee maker from the counter to a table on the other side of the kitchen and still have the new fridge on an extension cord from the only outlet it will work on…but I know which lines they are downstairs so I am going to try to move them to another circuit…but, it is just weird that only those two outlets quit…everything else works just fine so I am at a loss why that would be…..and I’m not going to pay an electrician to figure it out….so, I’ll just splice them into another circuit and and cross my fingers….

Well….cripes…I wonder if my sleep is going to keep moving until I get to the point that I don’t sleep at all…this morning, I was up at 2:36 and that would be 1:36 after the time change tonight…..oh, well…I did have an “interesting” day yesterday…got the new little fridge but it will only work with one outlet so far and that means an extension cord and the thing is not sitting where I want it for now…but, it works great so I’ll work on that later today…then, when I was doing the dishes, I started to run out of hot water so I checked the water heater and the pilot was out with the end of the thermocouple was  bad so I had to run out to depot and get another one…only 10 bucks and it was an easy fix…but, that reminded me of the things that can break in a house and I have to fix them all…..it was nice to have ice upstairs this morning so I could get my day started with a big glass of ice water and to have milk for my coffee instead of the dry creamer I have been using for the past week or so….and I have my bagels with cream cheese up here waiting for me in the fridge…need to transfer more food here in a while…the fridge is plenty big enough for almost a weeks worth of food and one cool thing is that you can’t hear it run at all…quietest fridge I’ve ever seen…not much to do today…Man U plays at 8:30 and then I think Michigan plays at noon and I think there is a race on later, too, so I think I may take a day off and just veg and clean some…I do need to get moving on some outdoor stuff and completing the painting in here but I think I have the time….going to start looking at plans for the gate and might just get it built before winter…more later….

Well….damn, it’s cold outside…just dragged the trash bin out to the road and that was a chore with how much I have in it…it must weigh 150 pounds with putting the old microwave in it…slept okay last night but it took a sleeping pill to do it and that is always a mistake…feel really crappy and I know that is going to last most of the morning but I just couldn’t do another night of 4 hours of sleep…I did make a run to the downtown post office to get some bills mailed last night and stopped at the bar near me to have one…not one that I’ll repeat in the future…it is as run down of a dump that I remember filled with old guys that could do nothing but bitch that the dems are trying to remove trump in a “coup”….geez…and I wonder what the deal is with the hatred of California? That was the second topic these guys were bitching about and they went on and on about the fires and they hoped they would burn the whole state down…I did get some stuff done yesterday and want to finish up the vestibule painting today…but, I’m not sure if I will…no motivation at all right now and I hope the coffee will help that….more later…

Well…sitting here a little depressed by seeing the snow falling and not having a winter car yet, but I did get a bit of good news about the compact fridge I ordered yesterday…just got an e-mail from UPS saying it will be delivered tomorrow and not on Monday as it was originally estimated…and that is good news since I am getting pretty damn tired of having to go downstairs to get ice and food all the time…I’ve even given up on ice water just because of it….but that will end tomorrow and I am looking forward to it…but it is funny that most fridges in Europe are the size of the one I’m getting or just a little bigger and they live perfectly fine without having one that is big enough to hold a whole cow or a months worth of food…we’ll see how it works when it gets here….and that does it for the month….I don’t have to pay rent tomorrow for the first time in over 15 years!

Well…I am so damn tired of seeing 4:17 awake every morning and I think I’m going to take something for it tonight…and, I didn’t even take a nap yesterday afternoon…aaaargh…oh, well…don’t feel too bad this morning with only 5 hours of sleep and I did say that I wouldn’t bitch about it any more so that’s enough….really got tired of going up and down the stairs to get food for my meals so I bought a small fridge/freezer to put in the kitchen yesterday that should be here Monday…only 160 bucks and it looks like it’s big enough to keep a few days of food up in the kitchen…and I’ll have ice for ice water again and that will be cool….and it was 100 bucks off at Best Buy so that was cool….I did get out and run errands yesterday and hit 4 stores on Alpine…and didn’t really plan it at all like I used to for the Meijer’s run in the south end so I can go any time I want except the afternoon during rush hour…and that was one of the things I was concerned about moving over here…and none of the stores were busy so that was cool, too…I even found  a dollar tree right out by Aldi’s and got a bunch of stuff for 6 bucks yesterday…finally got some oven mits for a buck a piece and got to use them yesterday….oh, and my biggest bargain of the day came from a mistake I made at Meijers…I was looking for some socks to wear around here and found some black crew socks for only 7 bucks for 10 pairs …but when I got to the checkout, I noticed they were something called quarter socks but I bought them anyway….when I got back here and tried them on, they were just what I was looking for and didn’t even know it…higher than the footies that I have been wearing but about 4 inches lower than a normal crew sock…so I’m set for the winter….yep, little things like that make me happy…more later…

Well…I was really surprised today when the fence guys showed up and finished the fence in the rain…and one of the guys had 9 stitches in his thumb where he cut it with a saw here on Monday…it looks really good and I am quite happy with how it came out…and the final total was just a bit over 1800 bucks so I think that was a pretty good deal, too…one really cool thing that happened was the lead guy left me the material I need to build a  gate for the side of the house and that must be at least 150 bucks worth…they charge 300 bucks for a gate but I wanted to try my hand at building one and save some cash…so I really saved with getting the stuff free…so now, the last of the big projects are done and that feels good…I wonder if I can take a few days off now? I do need to send the final payment tomorrow but that will be the last of the big outlays…but, I do want to order a small fridge for the kitchen but that will have to wait until I get my next SS payment in November… I guess I could order it now since the card that I am going to use is not due until the 24th and the payment will be here by then…

Well…slept okay last night but still up early today but I don’t feel bad so I guess that’s something…still having problems getting motivated, though, so we’ll see how the day goes…been here for almost two weeks now and need to start getting my stuff put away…need to move a dresser into my bedroom so I can get some clothes out of the black garbage bags so I can use them and start getting the basement straightened up…and I still have the vestibule here in the living room that needs painting and the spare room needs to be repaired and painted, too so I do have work to do…need to find a winter car and that is going to be my focus for the next week since the weather looks like it is going to hell with some snow…at least there won’t be salt on the roads for a couple of weeks so that’s the deadline…I am going to run all my errands today since all of the stores I need to get to are on Alpine and it’s a little weird they are all on the same side of the street….but there are 4 of them and that may take some time…it looks like rain all day so I’m pretty sure the fence guys won’t be here so I can take off at 9 or so…found some smoked salmon in the freezer so I am going to get some bagels and cream cheese and treat myself a little….and I have a couple of venison steaks to have, too so at least I’ll have some good food….more later…

Well…as you know, I had scheduled a plumber to come and fix the faucets in the bathroom and clear out a drain clog in the bathroom sink since I could only run the water in it very slowly and it would back up after about 10 seconds…I’m glad I had these guys come since they found that the seats for the washers were cracked and notched and even if I could have gotten the stems out, they still wouldn’t have stopped the leaking and that would have irritated the heck out of me…so, I just guessed and called a place called Budget Plumbing and they came out and completely rebuilt the faucets, put new seats in, and cleared two drain clogs and it only cost 145 bucks…which I thought was quite reasonable…I was expecting about 300 bucks so to have everything done for less than half that was a pleasant surprise…so, less depressed now…